Chapter Fourteen: Scarves and Mittens.

A talk about homework and Christmas presents reveals something that they should have known long ago.

Saturday 14th December 2019. 3 p.m.

Adrien stared intently at his computer screen, fingers flying across the keyboard before hitting save with a flourish. "Done. All I have to do then is to polish up my bibliography and then it's complete." He sighed and slumped down in his desk chair. "Finally!"

A giggle sounded from his left and he automatically smiled. "It wasn't that hard," Marinette's voice echoed through his phone's loudspeaker with a teasing lilt. He couldn't see her, but he could clearly picture the smirk she had on her face right now.

Adrien wished he could see her. Actually, he wished he was doing his homework with her in person, preferrably at her house where his food wasn't monitored, but he would settle for seeing her on facetime instead. Marinette insisted that she couldn't facetime right now beaus she was working on a special project she didn't want him to see just yet. He was positive that meant her dress for the New Year's Gala - and he really needed to talk to her and clarify that he wanted that to be a date - but she wasn't even giving him a hint.

He missed her. Doing homework over the phone just wasn't that same.

"I am only passing French literature because of you and you know it," he groaned.

"I still don't get why you chose to write about the symbolism of the rose in la Belle au Bois Dormant if you hate literature so much."

Adrien shrugged even though she couldn't see it. "It seemed like a good idea at the time," he fibbed.

He had actually chosen it not long before their reveal as an excuse to look up flower symbolism so he could get a custom bouquet for Ladybug to confess his feelings for her. He loved to give her roses and, although she had protested the sentiment behind them, she did like getting them as gifts.

Of course all of this was a moot point now after her adorable accidental confession yesterday. He still couldn't believe she loved him. Him.

He cleared his throat to conceal the lovesick sigh trying to escape. "And speaking of roses-"

"A seamless transition."

"Hush you," he mock scolded. He chuckled. It was an accidental pun, ha! "Speaking of roses, the marzipan rose you gave me yesterday was amazing. I want to put an order in for one thousand."

He was joking, sort of, about the gigantic order. The rose had been a pale yellow, tinted with red at the edge of each petal, and it had looked so vibrant and so real that for a moment Adrien though she had given him a real rose, perfectly placed in the centre of the box of marzipan shapes - cats, ladybirds, small budding flowers, all of which framed that perfect rose so beautifully. It had tasted as good as it looked too and he had enjoyed every single bite (once he had managed to convince himself to eat the work of art that it was).

Adrien couldn't help but wonder if the rose choice had been deliberate, or if she had just chosen to give him the nicest looking one. He really hoped it was deliberate. He knew that a red-tinted yellow rose meant friendship developing into love and with her accidental confession yesterday… well, he just really wanted it to be true.

He also really did want more of that marzipan because it tasted divine.

Marinette giggled and mock-scolded him. "Adrien!"

He grinned. "You're right, that's silly, make it five thousand!"

"Adrien! Oh my gosh you are such a- eek!"

Adrien jolted up. He didn't like the sound of that shriek. "What's wrong?"

"Urgh, nothing," she gave an annoyed sigh, swearing under her breath in Chinese. He gaped at his phone, wondering if she had meant for him to hear and understand that, or if she had just underestimated how good his hearing was. She sighed again. "I just stabbed myself with a needle again. Occupational hazard."

"Again? How many times have you stabbed yourself?"

Marinette laughed. "In my lifetime? Loads."

"I meant today, Princess." Adrien scoffed.

There was a pause from Marinette and when she spoke again her voice was definitely pitched a little higher than normal. "I, uh, haven't been counting. It's not a lot though, I swear."

"Right," Adrien drawled, rolling his eyes. She was a terrible liar. He went for his secret weapon in this conversation. "Tikki?"

Tikki chirped up immediately. "This is number nineteen!"

"Tikki!"

"Marinette!" Adrien sighed. "If you're picking your fingers this much that it must be time for a break. I'm sure whoever the present is for would rather you keep your fingers intact than rush things."

Marinette snorted. "Please, you know I finished most of my presents weeks ago." He did indeed know this. Ladybug had bragged about it on patrol one night and he had reluctantly admit that he hadn't even begun thinking about presents yet. "The only ones that need a little more TLC are the knitted things anyway."

"Then what are you sewing so urgently?"

"Curiosity killed the cat."

"But satisfaction brought it back!"

Marinette had just finished wrapping a small plaster around her injured finger with Tikki's help and she snorted at the phone. He was so predictable sometimes. She couldn't resist the tease. "Are you asking me to satisfy you, Chaton?" she smirked, deliberately goading him. Tikki was trying desperately to hide her giggles by covering her mouth with her paws but a few slipped out anyway. "How bold of you."

There was silence on the other end of the phone before Adrien made a strangled sound followed by a high pitched whine. Plagg suddenly started cackling. "Good going, Miss Spots. You broke him!"

"Plagg!"

"Wait, never mind, he's still alive."

Tikki floated over to the phone as soon as Plagg began speaking and Marinette smiled at her. So far the cranky kwami had stayed out of their conversation, and she had assumed he was sleeping. Marinette could see her trying to hold back her smile as she scolded him. "Plagg, stop teasing him. You know how excited he is to see Marinette's dress."

"You're working on your dress?"

"Not anymore," Marinette shook her head, pulling her abused hands away from her dress. A break was certainly overdue.

She couldn't help but smile at how happy and excited he sounded. He had been doing his best to wheedle the details of her gown out of her since she had designed it but so far she had managed to keep it a secret. She couldn't wait to wow him when he saw her in the finished result. She was surprised that he hadn't managed to guess the pattern she was using considering they had talked about it only a week ago.

Marinette admired the way the midnight fabric draped over her dress form. It was going to be perfect when it was done. If her hands could survive all the pinpricks that is.

Determined, she put away her needles and the remaining beads. "I'm going to take that break now, Adrien. You were right about needing it." She grabbed her phone and sat on her chaise, absently picking up her work-in-progress knitting.

"Does that mean you're going to take a real break, or just switch to another project?" Marinette cursed under her breath. Sometimes he knew her too well. He sighed. "Marinette, put the knitting needles down."

"I haven't even picked them up yet!" she fibbed.

"Good. Don't."

She huffed. He could be so bossy sometimes. "Oh but there's practically nothing to do. Manon needs one extra colour on her striped mittens, the scarves for Alya's sisters just need tassels, and Rose's infinity scarf needs just a little more pink on it but then I'm done." See? It was next to nothing to finish them off. Nothing compared to her dress of Adrien's quilt that it.

Adrien wouldn't listen though. "Nope. Rest your hands. Take a real break and talk to your devilishly handsome cat."

"Fine, if you insist. Plagg, how are you?"

Both kwamis burst into laughter, Plagg's loud cackle echoing down the phone and drowning out Tikki's lighter giggle, but neither could cover up the sound of Adrien's groan. Marinette joined in the laughter then. Her poor kitty.

"I totally set myself up for that one," he whined before sighing. It was softer than his previous sighs, almost reverent, and Marinette felt herself flushing for no real reason. "You do need to look after yourself more, my Marinette. You put so much care into everything you make. So much love. It's amazing. And you're so fast! I mean, you gave me my patrol scarf just over a month after I asked for it. You must have been working flat out on that the whole time. I should have been way more appreciative than I was."

"More appreciative?"

Marinette could clearly remember the day she had given Chat Noir his patrol scarf. It was a bright green, almost a perfect match for the pads on his ring, and she had added buttons and buttonhole to it having designed it with practicality in mind. One he wound it round his neck the sides would fasten together with the buttons so there were no loose ends that could get snagged on rooftops or grabbed by fans or akumas, but the buttons could also be popped open quickly should he need it.

Chat had lost his mind with excitement. He enthused over every single tiny detail, marvelling over the colour, cooing over the black cat buttons she had spent days tracking down just for him, sighing in bliss at the soft wool she had used, and staring in awe at the signature she had accidentally knitted into it. That had been a mistake, she had made Chat's scarf just a few weeks after Adrien's birthday scarf and added it in without thinking, but fortunately for her he hadn't noticed that it spelled her name. Thank goodness.

But Chat had showered praise on her every single time they had met up for weeks after receiving his gift. Weeks!

"Kitty, you gushed about that for so long that I had to beg you to stop!" she laughed.

Adrien didn't reply. She frowned at the phone, seeing only the smiling face of his profile picture on the screen. There was no sound at all.

She shared a concerned look with Tikki. "Kitty?" she tried again. More silence. "Adrien?"

"You made me a scarf," Adrien finally said, so quietly she could barely hear him.

Marinette grabbed her phone and took it off loudspeaker, pressing it to her ear. Tikki nuzzled in on the other side so she could eavesdrop. "I know?"

"No, Marinette… you made me a scarf." Adrien's voice was soft and breathy and awed and she felt herself blushing again. "That's why you gave me my patrol scarf, because Adrien had already been given one!"

It hit her like a tonne of bricks. "Oh my god!"

Chat Noir had cornered Ladybug after patrol one night to ask what was bothering her - she had been visibly off her game for a few weeks but it hadn't started to affect her performance against akumas. Yet. He was concerned.

So she told him. While giving him as few details as possible she explained that she had made a birthday present for a friend, a scarf, and she was bothered by the fact that he didn't know it was from her. Ladybug had told him that there had been some mix up with the gifts, that he thought it was from his father, and that she wasn't sure whether she should bring it up or not. Obviously she didn't tell him at the time because she didn't want to upset him on his birthday, but it was weeks later and he still didn't know the truth.

Chat had listened patiently and advised her not to seek him out and tell him but not to lie to him if he asked. Since his father hadn't pointed it out to him it was likely that their relationship wasn't good or that he hadn't even bought a gift so her friend would be hurt if she told him and he knew she didn't want that. But if the friend discovered the truth and asked her then she should confirm it and explain things.

Ladybug had thanked him for the advice and for setting her mind at ease and he had jokingly replied she could thank him by making him a scarf too.

That was partly why he had been so stunned when she had actually given him a scarf a few weeks later on patrol.

"Oh my god," she repeated. How had she not realised this sooner?

Adrien let out a huff. "Oh my god!" he yelped. Several loud thudding sounds followed.

"Adrien?" Marinette didn't hear him on the other end of the line and bit her lip in concern. "Are you ok?" Still nothing. Tikki floated around to look her in the eye, giving her a supportive look. She bit her lip again before launching straight into a nervous babble. "Look, I'm sorry I kept it a secret for so long, but you told me I should and you were so happy, and-" several more thuds came across the line and she felt her heart sink. Was he that upset that he was taking it out on his room? "Adrien?"

Plagg was the one to answer her. "Relax Princess," he drawled. His voice was oddly soothing. "He's destroying his wardrobe right now to find-"

"They're a perfect match!" Adrien screamed.

"-both of the scarves." Plagg finished with a sigh. Marinette could hear Adrien grab his phone then.

"You made me a scarf." He sounded breathless on the other end of the phone, breathless and adoring. She could tell he was smiling. "You made me two scarves. They're incredible. You're incredible, Marinette."

Marinette felt some of the tension in her release but she still had to check. "So you're not upset, right?"

"Upset?" he gave a breathy laugh. "Hell no! How could I possibly be upset? They're the best gifts I've ever got and you, you're amazing my Marinette, utterly amazing, you are perfect and I love you and Plagg, Claws Out!"

She could hear the phone clatter to the ground, then claws and heavy boots scrabbling against the floor, and then silence.

He was on his way to see her.

Marinette would normally have melted at that. He was so sweet and so adorable and she just loved him so much. It made her heart race to think that he was coming over to see her just because she had made him so happy.

The reason she wasn't currently a puddle on the chaise was because she was looking straight at her dress and Adrien's quilt. Two things that were meant to be kept secret from him. Two things that he would undoubtedly see when he arrived any second now!

"Tikki! Help! Quick!"

The two girls managed to get a sheet thrown over the dress, hiding everything from sight, and shove his quilt into her work-in-progress box before a thud on her roof announced his arrival. He jumped through the window and swung over her bed and landed in a crouch in front of her, completely missing her bed in a display of athleticism that had her green with envy.

He dropped his transformation and scooped her up into a gigantic hug, laughing happily and swinging her around so her feet didn't touch the ground. All she could do was laugh and hold onto him tightly.

While their Chosen were otherwise occupied, Tikki floated over to Plagg and handed him a swatch of fabric.

Plagg grinned. "This should shut him up. He really wants to match her colours at this fancy shindig."

"It's so romantic," Tikki smiled. Plagg might act contrary, but she knew he wanted to see Adrien happy. "Let's give them a moment and go and watch some funny videos. I found one that you'll just love!"

Author's notes. I have to apologise again for any typos. Autocorrect is the bane of my existence and I can only stare at a screen for so long trying to find every single error. Though it does seem to want to correct Plagg to plague all the time which, well, it isn't wrong, per se.

Replies to reviews.

OnlyLonelyStars - ah, that would explain why I've missed it then. Since I'm only just catching up with season two I've been very careful about spoilers so I've been avoiding a lot of the active fandom and most recent fanfics. I'm glad this sweet fluff is a cure for all the salt though, and I can assure you it is just as addicting to write haha. Thanks for reviewing.

Stormgate - you're not wrong. That girl has no filter at times and I love that about her so much.

yellow14 - it was more of an unlucky akuma etc leading to a lucky confession. Considering the election results we woke up to on Friday 13th I'm saying it was a very unlucky day for all haha.